Where Does Art Reside ?

Art Quote for the Day

Good Morning ! It’s 6 AM on a Saturday…. a beautiful light rain is falling…. my garden is loving it! This afternoon I will be teaching an IPAD tutorial to a few willing individuals. This seems like a pretty blah thing to start my post with …. big deal, I’m teaching a class. But , when I consider that it’s been barely over a year since I had to be “convinced”, pulled , kicking and screaming into learning how to use an IPAD, well, I am still truly amazed. I will be the first to acknowledge that I’m barely scratching the surface…… the students I taught last semester , in an HONORS course; IPAD SKETCHPAD, sometimes taught me more than I taught them. ( I mean , they’ve grown up with this stuff, they’ve had 18 years to learn it and I, hesitantly just started getting comfortable with my email in the last couple of years!!

But, I’ve made myself be , oh, shall I say , NOT TERRIFIED of the machine by just treating it as another means by which to make art. I have learned the basic tools of Photoshop and Sketching apps for the IPAD and just as with the most simple and basic media, ( pencil, charcoal), I can teach people how to be creative with it. This is my humble task….. I’m great at coming up with 50 variations 0n a single theme, at getting people to try different alternate solutions to a creative problem. So , I can do this with the IPAD as well.

It was interesting watching the students in the IPAD SKETCHPAD class. Several of them weren’t art majors. I would have them create an image on the IPAD and then have them translate it into actual art. On the IPAD , everyone was willing to try different techniques, start over, make several versions, etc.etc. but when it came to making actual “hard copy” art they were stuck and , yes , I’ll even say , AFRAID. But , over time , they started to make the connection – that the process , whether on the IPAD or on paper, was the same. One just takes a little longer, there’s some paper waste maybe, some chalk powder to clean up , but once they understood the process they started to create fantastic art.

So, this afternoon, another class. I’m seeing a trend, in that Art Teachers are wanting to learn more about the whole IPAD and making Art process. Classrooms in Middle Schools are starting to supply the students with IPADS and the teachers need to learn , the same way I did. It’s the future I guess, and if it helps kids open up their creative flow its a good thing.